Trust Acts to Open Research Findings to the Public

The trend toward open access scientific publishing gained strength last week when the Wellcome Trust, the second-largest nongovernmental funder of scientific research in the world, said it was considering sanctions against scientists who do not make the results of their research freely available to the public.

The London-based trust, which funds £650 million, or about $1 billion, of medical and scientific research every year, already has a policy requiring researchers to “maximize the opportunities to make their results available for free” and a presumption in favor of publication in open access journals available on the Internet.

But Sir Mark Walport, the trust’s director, told the Guardian newspaper that only 55 percent of Wellcome-funded researchers comply. Scientists often prefer to publish in journals that refuse to make the work available without paying a fee. One option reportedly under consideration is to withhold the last installment of a grant until the research is publicly available; another option would be to make grant renewal contingent on open access publication.

The open access movement arose in response to the high subscription fees for scientific journals, which in some cases can amount to thousands of dollars a year. Initiated by scientists, the movement has grown rapidly in recent years, partly because of support from university librarians who saw their acquisitions budget swallowed up by rising subscription costs.

The success of journals such as PLoS One, an on-line journal that began by publishing 138 articles in 2006 and is now the largest scientific publication in the world, has also encouraged imitation. Last year the Wellcome Trust announced that it would begin a new open-access journal, eLife, aimed at competing with prestigious subscription-based publications such as Science and Nature. — D. D. GUTTENPLAN

The European Commission is re-affirming its commitment to fostering research and development ties among universities, research centers and other institutions of the European Union and the southern Mediterranean states, participants at a recent conference said.

“The events of the Arab Spring called for a new vision for cooperation in research and innovation,” Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the European Union’s commissioner for research, innovation and science, said in Barcelona early this month.

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“Our agenda should mobilize all the relevant stakeholders and participants, such as universities, research centers, industry, organizations that promote innovation, financial institutions and investors,” said Ms. Geoghegan-Quinn in opening remarks at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Research and Innovation.

The European Union, which according to the commissioner is already funding such cooperation measures, with €40 million, or $52.5 million, is looking to fund additional joint innovation and research projects. Starting in 2014, part of the additional funding will come from the European Union’s proposed Horizon 2020 program for research and innovation, with its budget of €80 billion over seven years.

“We had a partnership, but we need to up participation from southern Mediterranean countries,” said Michael Jennings, spokesman for the Commission.

Though cooperation projects have been ongoing over the years, said Mr. Jennings by telephone last week, the recent conference was the first such meeting since political revolt began its sweep of the Arab region more than a year ago.